Finding Family
by DancingDaffodils
Summary: Set after [4x11] "Shattered Sight" The Snow Queen might have been a villain but to Emma and Elsa, she was someone special. They find themselves mourning her death while the rest of the town is celebrating it, just having been saved from the curse. Oneshot.


"I am thinking about her too," Elsa stated while she sat down next to Emma on the stairs before Granny's diner, bringing her daydreaming to an end.

Ingrid had died that morning when she had called back her spell and spared the town.

"I don't feel like celebrating" Emma apologised, looking in front of her before she took a sip from her beer. "I mean, everyone has just been their worst selves, truly thought they were going to die and then, didn't. Surely, it is cause for celebration…" she trailed off as she took another sip.

"But for us it is different because of the memories she gave us before she died. Happy memories… with her," Elsa said, looking into the distance.

"I am so glad there is someone who understands," Emma sighed in relief. "Now, God forbid my parents hear that. It would hurt them, although it is the last thing I want. I know they have always loved me and it broke their heart to have to let me go to break the curse, but… Ingrid was the first person to ever truly care for me, to show me kindness and love. She was the first person that ever felt like family to me."

Elsa rested her head on Emma's shoulder.

"She was going to adopt me! I mean, I had spent sixteen long years back and forth between the orphanage and foster homes… ut-ter-ly a-lone. I had always longed for a family. By the time she came into my life, I had given up the hope to ever be adopted and to have one. But Ingrid cared about me, she actually did and she was going to adopt me, for heaven's sake! I can't tell you how much it means to me. I had waited my entire life to hear someone say that to me. I just got those memories back, so no, I just can't join in in how amazing it is that she is dead. I am mourning her death," she finished before taking another sip of her beer.

Tears started to gather around Emma's eyes," Elsa ran a soothing hand up and down Emma's back and offered a weak smile to the horizon.

"I feel the same about Anna, although she is the person I love most in the world. I feel she would not understand why I am that sad about Ingrid's death either, especially after the things Ingrid's done to her. You know, my powers were a game to me until I hurt Anna by accident. My parents made her forget I ever had any powers at all. But there were still there, getting stronger and more out of control each day. My parents loved me but feared my powers as much as I did and I was afraid to hurt them and Anna so I pushed them all away. I grew up feeling very lonely, albeit surrounded by love and family."

Emma rested her head on Elsa's and Elsa took Emma's silence as an invitation to continue.

"Ingrid was the first person to make me feel like I was not a monster. She was the first person I could relate to. And she helped me get my powers under control. I was finally myself thanks to her and she made me feel good about who I was. Like you, I cannot express how much this means to me. She was family and family is all she ever wanted. So, this is a shared feeling, I cannot rejoice about her passing either. I would rather stay here with you, mourning her death, if that is alright."

Emma sat up and reached a beer bottle next to her that she handed to her friend, as an answer. "Start with that. You can't grieve without booze and you need loads of it," she explained.

"Thank you," Elsa said as she took a sip she almost immediately spat out. "What is that putrid beverage? They don't even serve something that bad in the taverns of Arendelle and I have been in quite a few."

Emma raised an eyebrow at her friend, with an amused expression on her face.

"Can we mourn with greasy food? The only good thing about this party is those things everybody calls grilled cheese I just discovered," Elsa said innocently.

Emma burst out into laughter. "Amen to that, sister! I just hope you stole quite a few," she said, in the hint of a laugh. "But not so fast, your majesty, don't believe for a second I am going to let this go! What's with you being in all those taverns? And know that no lies ever go past me" Emma asked, teasing, to Elsa who was teeth deep in a grilled cheese.

"Well, if I must," Elsa answered with a cheeky grin, as she wiped grease from her chin with a napkin.

As Emma listened to Elsa's story with interest, she realized Ingrid did bring herself and Elsa closer together, albeit not the way she had intended it, for she now considered the queen of Arendelle, family...


End file.
